I love stencils and I think that the stencil is the modern reincarnation of the poster. The poster was a very powerful medium that became very popular in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s (Art Nouveau/Jugendstil). Some of the more famous artists using posters as a medium were Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha, Steinlen and many others in Europe. Japan had proven to be highly influencual on the development of the poster as an art form.

Like the poster as an art form the stencil is dispensable and mostly short-lived. A stencil in a street art sense is a response to a political question, it is a satire on the state of art or just a beautiful or not-so-beautiful image. The fact that it is short-lived and a child of its day make it so attractive. Stencils are very graphic and can be very visual depending on the contrast and colour scheme (of the stencil and the wall).

I must admit that it scares me to see art critics getting too involved in street art. Seriously, once the establishment gets too involved in any movement it does kill the vibe and spirit of that movement. Get the establishment involved with all their definitions and dogma and you end up having many layers between the work and the viewer.

If you want to experience a good sculpture for example you want to be able to engage with it and one aspect of engaging with it means feeling it! Once a sculpture is placed in a museum it becomes less accessible (in a tactile sense). You might have heard of the case in Melbourne where a council went so far to install an acrylic protective cover on some street art. Sorry, I might rephrase that: not just some or any street art but on a piece by the almighty Banksy. True, I like Banksy and a lot of his pieces work for me, but street art is street art is street art is street art is street art is street art…

Below are some images from Melbourne’s backstreets and a few other selected pieces by 108 from Italy, Swoon from the US and Jef Aerosol from France.

Below you will find a selection of stencils that I have found online. Personally, I prefer stencils that are in not too many colours and layers. Stencils are great when kept simple, once they get too complex they become overworked. As always there are exceptions, but in most cases over complicated works indicate that the creator has confused creation with masturbation. I don’t get a kick out of the latter…

Click on the images to find the site where they are originated. Some come with interesting posts or articles.

A blog by the name The World is not Flat has a good post on European street art. The writer, a visitor from the US (a country south of Canada) describes his/her (that is the problem with unisex names- Lee) thoughts on the European situation. The first photo was taken from that blog.

The Wooster Collective is another interesting site/blog and very active. If you like political stencils (as I do) you will find a lot of interesting works here. The image of the child on the van in New Delhi and the profile of the girl on the black wall can be found there.

Another gem in the search for inspiring stencils has to be a blog called World of Stencils.

Here I found some very beautiful pieces (see the nude stencil from Paris) and some very complex works by an artist called artiste-ouvrier. As mentioned earlier in this post, I prefer simple stencils, but as always there is the exception to the rule…

World of Stencils also features a group of stencil artists called WCA – Free University of Stencil Art. I have added two of their works below. Both motives show animals.

If you like some of the works, check my future posts for more stencils to come and get involved in the debate on the legality of street art!

Read the following blogs to get informed:

Core TV 1 Featured this group before- they are independent filmmakers working on documentary on Melbourne’s opinion on Street Art

Geekgirl Love the name! This post is on a stencil festival in Melbourne and has some interesting insights into our current political state of the art regarding street art

Don’t Ban The Can Most locals know about DBTC by now, they are an interest group of street art supporters and against the Graffiti Prevention Act. They organise events to celebrate street art! This is what democracy is about! Standing up for what you believe in…

Graffiti Hurts Australia This group is actually fighting against graffiti and street art and has been very active in the media. Personally, I find this group extremely conservative and negative, it is still good to see what their views are…